Pepperell Man Charged With $12 Million Mail and Wire Fraud Scheme, Reports U.S. Attorney

4 August 2006

A Pepperell man, working as a military contractor at Hanscom Air Force Base, was charged today in federal court with operating a scheme to defraud a California company of $12 million worth of products.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England, announced today that NICHOLAS STOUPIS, age 36, of Pepperell, was charged in an Information with two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud.

The Information alleges that from July 2004 through March 2006, STOUPIS was employed by a military contractor and assigned to work at Hanscom Air Force Base ("Hanscom"). It is alleged that at Hanscom, STOUPIS created email accounts in the names of fictitious individuals with a Hanscom email address. It is alleged that STOUPIS used these accounts to order replacement products for products that had been sold to the military or to military contractors, and then subsequently recalled by the manufacturer. It is alleged that STOUPIS directed the manufacturer, a California-based company identified in the Information only as Company A, to send these replacement products to his home address. STOUPIS then allegedly sold the products over the Internet. It is alleged that STOUPIS falsely told his Internet customers that he was selling the products as used military goods no longer needed by the military. In total, STOUPIS allegedly obtained products in this manner with a retail value worth in excess of $12 million.

If convicted, STOUPIS faces up to 20 years' imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine on each of the 4 counts.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth P. Berman in Sullivan's Computer Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the Information are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: prnewswire

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